the tech surfer

Tag: browser

Mozilla is cranking out new versions of Firefox like its coming out of a copy machine. It seems like it every two weeks, a new version of Firefox comes out. Speaking of the devil, Firefox 6 is now out.

You won’t see anything different because there are no UI changes, but it will be 20% faster. So they say. Firefox 6 is available on PC, Mac and Linux. As of this writing, Mozilla’s website still displays Firefox 5. You may have to wait a couple of hours until the official announcement.

If you’re an Ubuntu user, just follow the instructions I wrote here for Firefox 5. This will work with future versions as well. By the way, I just tried. It’s not quite there yet. Just wait a couple of hours until the ppa repository is updated.

Three months ago, Mozilla released Firefox 4. Today, Mozilla released Firefox 5, touted as the fastest Firefox ever. The quick release of Firefox is a direct result of the stiff competition from other browsers, namely Google Chrome and Internet Explorer to gain market share. Here’s an excerpt of the Firefox 5 release from Datamation.com.

Firefox 5 includes new performance, standards and privacy improvements as well as improving the overall stability of the browser for Windows, Mac, Linux and Android users.

“Firefox 5 is the fastest Firefox ever, and also the fastest ever to market,” Johnathan Nightingale, Director of Firefox at Mozilla told InternetNews.com. “Our new rapid release cycle means that the improvements get into users hands more quickly. The latest version of Firefox includes more than 1,000 improvements and performance enhancements that make it easier to discover and use all of the innovative features in Firefox. ”

Among the changes is improved visibility for Mozilla’s Do Not Track implementation. With Firefox 5, users can now use an interface item to select whether or not they want websites to track them. Firefox has been supporting a Do Not Track implementation since the Firefox 4 release, though with Firefox 5 it is now user visible. Firefox’s Do Not Track is a simple binary expression — when enabled, it sends an HTTP header that says, DNT=1, which means: “do not track me.”

Several weeks ago, I declared switching to Chrome on my PC and Linux desktops due to one thing, the speed of the Chrome browser was unmatched. Yesterday, I read an article stating that Chrome outgrew Firefox, IE and any other browser in the market, jumping 9% from usage in just last month.

If that’s not an indication that Firefox is losing its grip, wait until you read today’s article about Chrome, now being the number one browser used by Digg users who visit the site. When techies no longer use Firefox, it’s all the more reason to believe that Chrome has won the hearts of techies.

I heard RockMelt mentioned twice in two days. What’s RockMelt? RockMelt is a brand-new browser that’s designed around you and how you use the web. Curious? Yes, me too. Well, wait no more. You can sign up and get an early invitation.

RockMelt does more than just navigate Web pages. It makes it easy for you to do the things you do every single day on the Web: share and keep up with your friends, stay up-to-date on news and information, and search. And of course, RockMelt is fast, secure, and stable because it’s built on Chromium, the open source project behind Google’s Chrome browser. It’s your browser – re-imagined and built for how you use the Web.

This past week, the Google Chrome browser was updated to version 6. If you haven’t updated, just go to About Google Chrome and click on the Update button.

One thing that is very noticeable with Google Chrome 6 is speed. I mean lots of it. It’s an amazingly fast browser. Coming from Firefox you’ll feel like you’ve gone to warp speed.

The minimalist design of the browser is a vast improvement over previous versions. The access menu is just a single wrench that pretty much does everything. That’s the idea behind the concept of having one menu. Simplicity.

Even if you don’t like Google Chrome for whatever reason, Google Chrome version 6 will offer you something that another browser can’t deliver. Speed. Now, who doesn’t want a fast browser.